Tuesday, June 30, 2015

A day
has 24 hours – each hour has 60 minutes – each minute has 60 seconds – after
23:59:59 everyday, another day starts -
but today 30th June after 23:59:59
instead of 00:00:00, the time becomes
23:59:60 – sound illogical ? – heard of a leap second ?? – and it is not new ??? 2015 is not a leap year, but it does have a
leap second, set to take place Tuesday (June 30) at 7:59:60 p.m. EDT (23:59:60
GMT). Ask any person the length of a
day, and she'll say 24 hours, which equates to 86,400 seconds. But the time it
takes for Earth to rotate on its axis relative to the sun, called a mean solar
day (or the average length of a day) is roughly 86,400.002 seconds. This
happens because Earth's rotation is slowing down, thanks to a kind of braking
force caused by the gravitational tug of war among Earth, the sun and the moon,
researchers at NASA said.

In The Age of Miracles, Karen Thompson
Walker’s debut novel, the Earth apparently hasn’t received the same memo as
most of its citizens: Instead of moving at a pace faster than ever, the
planet’s rotation begins to slow. At first, the days grow by about 56 minutes.
Eventually, each rotation takes longer than 48 hours. The novel explores
scientific and environmental implications of “the slowing,” while focusing
primarily on changes in society, relationships, and humanity itself. Walker describes the lengthening days in such
realistic detail—professional baseball games are thwarted by gravity’s changes;
agriculture must rely on artificial light—Could this actually happen? - In
fact, the Earth’s rotation is slowing.
But not at a rate that anyone would notice—unless one happens to be around in
150 million years.

Leap year we know –
it is the year containing one additional day in order to keep the calendar year synchronized
with the astronomical or seasonal year. Because seasons and astronomical events
do not repeat in a whole number of days, calendars that have the same number of
days in each year, over time, drift with respect to the event that the year is
supposed to track. By inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month
into the year, the drift can be corrected. A year that is not a leap year is
called a common year. In the Gregorian
calendar, each leap year lasts 366 days instead of the usual 365, by extending
February to 29 days rather than the common 28 days.

Since
1967, when clocks went atomic, human timekeeping has been independent of the
earth’s rotation. The problem is, the planet is slowing down and clocks are
not. So every few years, to get everything back in sync, scientists add a
second. They’ve done it 25 times since 1972. The last time was 2012, but that
was on a weekend. June 30 will be the first leap second during trading hours
since markets went electronic.

The "leap
second" means the last minute of June will have 61 seconds in it. Leap seconds - and leap years - are added as
basic ways to keep the clock in sync with the Earth and its seasons. However,
there are concerns the extra second could cause problems for some computer
systems because it has to be added manually. Will that cause any calculable
harm as perceived in Y2K and would that send Insurers in a spot of bother ? NASA has explained that June 30, 2015 will
officially be a bit longer than usual because an extra second or
"leap" second will be added.

Daniel MacMillan of
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt said that Earth's rotation is
gradually slowing down a bit, so leap seconds are a way to account for that. A
day lasts 86,400 seconds. That is the case, according to the time standard that
people use in their daily lives, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). UTC is
"atomic time," the duration of one second is based on extremely
predictable electromagnetic transitions in atoms of cesium. These transitions
are so reliable that the cesium clock is accurate to one second in 1,400,000
years. However, the mean solar day, the average length of a day, based on
how long it takes Earth to rotate, is about 86,400.002 seconds long. Scientists
estimate that the mean solar day hasn't been 86,400 seconds long since the year
1820 or so.

"Earth's
rotation is gradually slowing down a bit, so leap seconds are a way to account
for that," Daniel MacMillan of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Maryland, said in a statement. Because of these planetary forces, a
mean solar day likely hasn't lasted 86,400 seconds since about 1820, NASA
scientists said. Two milliseconds might
not sound like much, but it adds up to almost a second over the course of a
year. However, in reality, it's much more complicated. Earth's rotation may be
gradually slowing down, but individual days can also vary in unpredictable
ways, the researchers said. Many factors
can affect the length of a day. For instance, seasonal and daily weather
changes can influence the length of a day by several milliseconds every year,
as can oceanic and atmospheric tides and variations in the atmosphere, oceans,
groundwater and ice storage. Even the cyclic climate phenomenon called El Niño
— associated with a weakening of the tropical Pacific trade winds and a
strengthening of the mid-latitude westerlies — can slow down Earth's rotation,
adding a millisecond onto a day, the researchers said.

Scientists record
how long Earth takes to fully rotate each day by using a method called very
long baseline interferometry (VLBI). Researchers developed VLBI in the 1960s to
look at quasars, incredibly bright galactic centers created by matter falling
onto a supermassive black hole. But researchers soon realized that because
quasars barely move, the bright objects could act as reference points. Now,
VLBI, which relies on radio dish signals around the world, helps scientists
determine how Earth is moving relative to the quasars, according to NASA.

So,
today, there is going to an extra second – and what are we going to do to that
or how are we going to utilise that ?? In
the past, leap seconds have caused problems for computer systems, often because
scientists don't know about the extra second until the last minute
(figuratively speaking). For instance, the extra second can create glitches
galore for stock traders, computer programmers and airline companies unless
their systems are prepared for the change.
The leap second added in 2012 caused problems for Reddit, LinkedIn,
Gizmodo and FourSquare, Live Science reported in January."In the short
term, leap seconds are not as predictable as everyone would like," Scientists
added about one leap second every year from 1972 to 1999, but leap seconds have
become less frequent since then; this June's extra second is only the fourth
since 2000.

It's unclear
why fewer leap seconds are needed nowadays, but sudden geological events,
including earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, can affect Earth's rotation, at
least in the short term, NASA scientists said. However, the leap second may be
short-lived. There are several proposals to shelve the practice, but the
decision won't be made until late 2015 at the earliest, according to NASA.

Monday, June 29, 2015

29th
June 2015 – a momentous day for Chennai -
we have been reading about ‘Chennai Metro’ - rapid transit system for too long and it has
become a reality today.Phase I of the project, which
consists of two corridors covering a length of 45.1 kilometres (28.0 mi), is
under construction – that can be felt as you travel in Chennai – as you would
see works in progress at many parts of the city – the already narrow roads
shrinking further and some traffic snarls.
Chennai has local trains running from Central to Arakonam; Central to
Ponneri; Chennai Beach to Tambaram EMU
line and MRTS from Beach to Velachery – the metro project is to integrate all
of them together.

Hindustan
Times photo

A distance of 10 Kilometers from Koyambedu to
Alandur, the first phase of the much anticipated multi-crore Metro Rail chugged
off today with Chief Minister Ms.J
Jayalalithaa flagging off the inaugural service from the state secretariat through live video. The route
dedicated to the public is an elevated structure covering a distance of 10.15 km,
consisting of Alandur, Ekkathuthangal, Ashok Nagar, Vadapalani, Arumbakkam and
Koyambedu Railway stations besides the yard at the last stop, a state
government release said. This route runs
mainly on the busy 100 ft road and would cater to lakhs of commuters when fully
completed.

The first train
having four coaches, left at 12.15 pm from Alandur to Koyambedu and was driven by A Preethi, a 28-year-old diploma holder in
engineering from Government Dharmambal Polytechnic College here.The
flower decked sprawling and swanky Alandur metro station, the biggest in
Chennai, was brimming with activity, with enthusiastic passengers eager to
board the first train."I am excited, my daughter's dream of becoming a
loco pilot of Metro Rail has come true," Preethi's father R Anbu told PTI.
He explained how his daughter was chasing her dream of becoming a loco pilot
after the metro rail project began taking shape. "She quit her first job,
applied for a job in Chennai Metro rail, and she was the first woman to get selected,"
he said with joy.

The 10 km stretch
from Alandur in southern Chennai to Koyambedu which houses an inter-state bus
terminus and also a vegetable wholesale market would be covered in just 19
minutes. This includes the stoppage time at six stations. By road, when traffic
is smooth, the same distance can be covered in 45 minutes. During peak hours it
may get doubled.

There will be a metro train service
every 10 minutes. Each train can carry upto to 1,276 passengers.The minimum
fare on the train is Rs 10 and the maximum fare is Rs 40. While some may jump to say that fares are
high – it is an airconditioned train and the stations will have to be
maintained – in MRTS – the travel from Beach to Velachery costs a measly Rs.5/-
[unbelievable Rs.120 for a monthly pass !] which certainly needs multiple
upward revision.

Newspaper reports
suggest that immediately upon inauguration, DMK and Congress
parties claimed credit for the scheme, claiming it to be their master plan for
the city. Stalin recalled his trip to Japan as the minister for local
administration to seek a loan for the project.

On Jan 25, 2015,
the Hindu had this photo of two women and a report – two modestly-dressed young women stand small in
front of a towering silver-blue train. Normally, there would be nothing special
about the scene, except these two women will soon be behind the controls of the
train. They are A. Preethi and G.
Jayashree — the only two women train operators for Chennai Metro Rail Limited
(CMRL).Both women are in their 20s and joined CMRL in September 2013, after
finishing their diploma in electronics and communication.There are driver-less
Metro Rail trains in the world. Even Chennai Metro trains are equipped with
automatic operating systems.“However, operators are required to monitor the
movement of passengers. Also, initially they will be required to give command
of the speed. But the system won’t let them go beyond 50 kmph. If they do, the
trains will automatically come to a halt. We have also designed several other
automatic provisions for safety,” says an official of CMRL.

As part of their
training, Preethi and Jayashreehad visited Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, met
their counterparts there and drove trains in Delhi’s test tracks.

Sunday, June 28, 2015

You may
call it revision or tampering – in a
move to give bowlers a bit of breathing room in 50-overs cricket, the ICC board
has decided to do away with catching fielders in the first ten overs, get rid
of the batting Powerplay, and allow five fielders outside the 30-yard circle in
the last ten overs of an ODI innings. The other notable change that will take
place from July 5 will see free hits awarded for all no balls in ODI and T20
internationals, not just when bowlers overstep.

Paikiasothy
Saravanamuttu (1892 – 1950 - also known
as P. Sara) was a Ceylonese civil servant and sports administrator. The stadium at Colombo is named after
him. Home to the Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic
Club – this stadium hosted Sri Lanka's first Test, against England in 1982. In
1985, it was the venue for Sri Lanka's first-ever Test win, over India. Today, at P Sara stadium it rained and on day
4 Pak need to defend 153 to keep their lead.
Pakistan made 138 & 329 while
Sri Lanka made 315. In the first innings, the offie, Paskuwal Handi Tharindu Kaushal, who has
played one test earlier took 5 wickets.

The man in
focus is 37 years of age, but in peak form - Kumar Sangakkara. In 2014, he played Tests
against Pakistan, England, South Africa, Bangladesh and New Zealand to hit 1438
runs at an average of 71.90. In the 12 months, he hit more international runs,
across formats, than have ever been struck in a calendar year. In March, he
became the first batsman to hit four ODI centuries on the trot, at the World
Cup. Sangakkara said it was his father, who has been a
well of advice to him throughout his career, first suggested it may be time to
step away. "My father, when I was at home with him a couple of years ago in
Kandy, asked me: 'Don't you think it's time you started thinking about
retirement?' I got a
shock. I thought, 'What are you trying to tell me? That I'm not good enough?'
But then speaking to my mind, it actually made some sense. It was back in 2012
or 2013 when he asked me that, and it struck home. I thought, 'Maybe it was
time I paid attention to what's happening.'

Kumar
Sangakkara has confirmed he will retire
from international cricket after the second Test of Sri Lanka's forthcoming
series against India, calling time on one of the most successful careers in
modern cricket. Sangakkara will not play the third Test in the ongoing series
against Pakistan, choosing instead to play for county side Surrey, before
returning to Sri Lanka ahead of the first Test against India.

If only he stays on, he might close more than 14000 runs; now he has
38 tons with five potential innings that
remain, there remains a chance he could hit one more double-century to match
Don Bradman's tally of 12. Sanga in 131
tests has made 12271 runs; 14234 runs with 25 tons in one dayers……. A grand
walk-out indeed !

There is news that BCCI is unlikely to appoint a full-time head
coach till the 2016 World Twenty20 in India, though the team director Ravi
Shastri and three other members of the coaching staff are all set to receive a
two-year contract extension. Shastri and the three assistant coaches - Sanjay
Bangar (batting), B Arun (bowling) and R Sridhar (fielding) - had already been
assured of renewal of their contracts, but the tenure was not agreed upon. Cricinfo quoting BCCI insider states that the
board was satisfied with the current arrangement, as all three assistant
coaches have gelled well, despite the poor performance at Bangladesh.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Have you ever experienced
this ….. you respond to some e-mail communication, commenting on the ignorance
or the mistake of the sender [who is an important person occupying a higher
rank] – wish to share that privately
with the person who is closest to you – press the send button, only to realise
that you have clicked ‘reply all’ – a recipe for disaster or unpleasantness, the least !

In Microsoft Outlook, there
is this feature of stopping delivery of a mail wrongly sent and optionally
replace with another message – the catch is – only when sent to another
Microsoft Exchange Server user within your organization. Message recall is
available after you click Send and then realize that you forgot to attach a
file, include information in the message, or want to revise what was originally
sent. One cannot however recall messages sent to
email addresses outside your organization ~and you wished that Gmail too had
such a facility !!

That stands answered ~ Gmail
has added 'Undo Send' tool to stop embarrassing emails getting to the wrong
people. Google has made its 'Undo Send'
tool an official and permanent feature nearly six years since it launched as an
experiment in Gmail Labs. To enable the
feature, get into your Gmail settings
and in that long list tick the 'Enable
Undo Send' box and set the cancellation period which however cannot be more
than 30 seconds. In fact, there are 3
options of 10,20, 30 seconds – thus effectively delays the sending by
half-a-minute, giving the option to change the mind and the content !

Google Inbox is an email service
available for desktops - on Chrome, Firefox and Safari - as well as an iOS and
Android app. When a user first logs in using, Google scans the account to
present important emails first. It
groups similar emails into 'Bundles' based on subject and turns addresses into
map links. Other features include the option to undo sending messages, snoozing
emails to be dealt with at a later time, and pinning messages to the top of the
inbox.

To use the feature on the
desktop, compose an email in the traditional way and hit send. A pop-up message will appear at the top of
the inbox that says: 'Your message has been sent. Undo.' Clicking Undo stops
the message being sent and reopens it in a compose window so users can delete
it, change the recipient or amend what has been written. The announcement was made in a official blog
post: 'Previously a popular feature in Gmail Labs, and recently added to Inbox
by Gmail, today we’re adding 'Undo Send' as a formal setting in Gmail on the
web.

Not sure whether the recipient
will receive any message when you hit ‘undo’ button ! In another move, Google has
removed emoji images from its search results on mobile and desktop.Originally meaning pictograph, the word emoji
literally means "picture" (e) + "character" (moji).Some emoji are very specific to Japanese
culture, such as a bowing businessman, a face wearing a face mask, a white
flower used to denote "brilliant homework," or a group of emoji
representing popular foods.

At a time when it seems
every website and app is adding support for emoji, Google is bucking the trend.
The tech giant has removed them from its search results and they will no longer
appear when people search for pages that feature the ubiquitous images. Support for emoji is said to have been pulled
after websites were using the pictographs to push their pages to the top of
results.

Google has removed support
for emoji on its search pages. Google’s webmaster trends analyst John Mueller
made the announcement during a Google+ Hangout in May. He explained that Google
stopped supporting unicode symbols in 2003 and planned to do the same with
emoji. Sites using emoji won't be penalised for using the images, instead the
icons simply won't show up when the searches are made.

In April Instagram updated
its app to let users search for emoji hashtags. These changes in particular let
people post, explore other people's photos and interact with captions using
just emoji. The most popular emoji on
the site is the crying with laughter face, followed by the face with love
hearts for eyes and blowing a kiss emoji.

Elsewhere, Microsoft
announced last month it would be adding emoji symbols to its Windows 10
software when it launches later this year. But instead of using the standard
emoji characters seen across Facebook, Twitter and apps, it will introduce its
own range.

On the longest day of the
year — the summer solstice, June 21 — International Yoga Day celebrations swept
nearly 200 countries - people gathered in large numbers to practice the ancient
physical and spiritual discipline, everywhere across the globe.

Away in Bangladesh, India saw
lurking danger of Banglawash struggling to cope up with
rookie left arm pacer - Mustafizur Rahman. However, in the last match, they did
well to make 317 and beat Bangla by a handsome margin. Former England captain
Geoffrey Boycott believes Bangladesh's impressive series win over India is not
enough "to send waves through the cricket world" since it has come in
home conditions. Boycott reckons Bangladesh, who had never beaten India in a
series earlier and currently won 2-1,
need to win matches abroad, especially Tests against teams like Australia,
South Africa, New Zealand and England.

Back home, there is one area plagued by
farmer suicides – Vidarbha. It has been continuing - indicating serious
distress and despair prevailing in 5 million agrarian community which is facing
economic crisis since 2005 and last yearskharif and ruby crop damages due
server climate change and market recession.

Vidarbha is the eastern
region of the state of Maharashtra, comprising Nagpur and Amravati, Akola,
Chandrapur…. Its former name isBerar. Situated
in central India, Vidarbha has its own rich cultural and historical background
distinct from rest of Maharashtra. Nagpur region is famous for growing oranges
and cotton. Vidarbha unfortunately has been plagued by poverty. In recent times, there have been calls for a
separate state of Vidarbha, due to perceived neglect from the Government of
Maharashtra. Farmer suicides have
attracted negative attention to this region.

After an anxious wait for
the rains, cotton growers are back in their fields and have started sowing
operations for the cash crop. According to government officials, cotton growers
are the first to set out for work in this season as it is a long duration crop
and now they have water at their disposal. Since cotton is a cash crop and
major produce in the black soil in the region, the growers start sowing
anticipating rains in early June and this year too, a large number of farmers
commenced sowing operation well in time and fortunately rains also arrived, it
is stated. It is also stated that the
crop loan to farmers was behind schedule.

At a time when India faces
awkward situation of a Banglawash, India
opener KL Rahul, who missed the one-off Test in Bangladesh with dengue fever,
says competition for the opener's spot with ShikharDhawan is a healthy sign for
Indian cricket. Rahul's forced absence in Fatullah allowed Dhawan, the man he
replaced as opener in the Sydney Test, to return to the top of the order.
Dhawan made the most of the opportunity, scoring his third Test century. With M
Vijay firmly entrenched, Rahul recognises it could well be a toss-up again
between him and Dhawan for the second opener's slot when India play their next
Test match.

Back home, in India
domestic season, WasimJaffer, the highest individual run-getter in the Ranji
Trophy, has switched to Vidarbha from his home team Mumbai. Jaffer, would thus
join S Badrinath and Karnataka's Ganesh Satish to complete a solid line-up of
Vidarbha's professionals. After an illustrious 19-year stint in first-class
cricket with Mumbai, Jaffer is 241 runs short of becoming the first batsman to
score 10,000 runs in the Ranji Trophy. Paras Mhambrey, the former Mumbai and
India pacer is the coach. Tamilnadu’sSubramaniamBadrinath is the
skipper. Since a domestic team can sign
a maximum of just three players on its roster, Vidarbha decided to release
Dhurv, the left-arm spinner, once Jaffer agreed to come on board. Jaffer played
for India long back – and struggled for Mumbai last season with injuries.

At Kingston, a Sinhalese
sounding name – Rajendra Chandrika made a forgettable debut against Australia
registering a pair; he is not alone as
he joins 39 others to start his Test career in such fashion. Chandrika, called
up to replace an indisposed Marlon Samuels for the second Test, lasted a total
of nine balls and 16 minutes in the match, falling to Mitchell Starc in both
innings. In both, he was out to poor
shots. Coach Phil Simmons had words of encouragement for the opener Chandrika who also bowls off
spin.

On the
longest day of the year — the summer solstice, June 21 — International Yoga Day
celebrations swept nearly 200 countries, as those in the Northern Hemisphere
greeted the first day of summer.The day also represented a spirit of peace and
good will, our Prime Minster NarendraModi said to a crowd of more than 35,000,
before taking to his mat and joining what's been billed as the largest yoga
demonstration in history.Modiji also mentioned the health benefits of the ancient Indian practice. Studies have shown it eases
conditions such as chronic pain and high blood pressure. “Practicing yoga helps
combat stress and chronic conditions.” Modi said. Yogis flowed in Times Square, meditated under
the Eiffel Tower, Madrid's Colon Square -
to locations in Afghanistan, South Korea, China and Kazakhstan. But no
gathering was larger than the one in India’s capital New Delhi — a massive
affair led by none other than Prime Minister, whose brainchild International
Yoga Day was.

With
35,985 participants, the New Delhi event has been declared the largest yoga
demonstration at a single venue, beating out the previous record of just under
30,000 set by Indian school students in 2005.

Near lies Kotla
ground, different ~ mostly no music to bowlers – reportedly smaller where batsmen
make merry. India has exhibited its weakness to left-arm
pace. England's John Lever had a
memorable debut at the Kotla in 1976, when he notched up a half-century and had
match figures of 10 for 70. That Series
was marred by the ‘vaseline incident’ of John Lever. At Chepauk, in the 3rd Test too,
Lever was fiery. The England attack of Willis, Lever, Old, Greig and Underwood
bundled out Indians for 83 chasing 284.

Now in Bangladesh,
stung by their first-ever series defeat against Bangladesh, undefireIndia is looking to salvage some pride and prevent
the hosts from registering a rare clean sweep.
At the centre is another tall left arm bowler - Mustafizur Rahman, who
has taken 11 wickets in just 2 matches. At
the time of posting this, Bangladesh are 210/7 chasing 318. Fifties from Shikhar Dhawan and MS Dhoni set
India up for their best batting performance of the ODI series; Dhawan stroked a
73-ball 75 and Dhoni, batting at No. 4 for the second match running, made a
77-ball 69 that saw India through the middle overs. Together, they laid the
platform for the lower middle order, led by Suresh Raina, to smash 50 off the
last five overs.

Captain cool is a cliché often used to describe MS Dhoni.
MSD had tasted success in all formats of the game. The transformation of MSD, from a long-haired
pinch-hitter to a suave captain was as
dramatic as his exit recently
from Tests. Now there is criticism that
Dhoni has lost his cool in this Series – here is an interesting AmulAd !

RavichandranAshwin
who answered the press conference, mounted a strong defence of MS Dhoni's
leadership saying he would "die on the field" if his captain asked
him to. Dhoniearlier brushed aside the
criticism of his captaincy but sarcastically quipped that if he was the source
of everything that was wrong with Indian cricket, he would gladly step aside.Ashwin
added that challenge starts for Mustafizur from here. Before Mustafizur Rahman, there was
AjanthaMendis. Much like Mendis did in his debut Test series in 2008, but
subsequently found tough to live up to that reputation. India's plans for tackling Mustafizur have
been widely sought after, and when the inevitable question popped up, Ashwin
said: "If there isn't a counter as such, I mean what can we do? Can we
kidnap him? No, we have to come out there and play some good and solid cricket
and try and make sure we nullify him. He does bowl a good cutter, which is
something we have to watch out for.

In this Series,
apart from Bangladesh romping home a 79-run
win over India in the first ODI at Dhaka , the talking point has been the
Dhoni-Rahman incident that took place in the 25th over of India's run chase.Off
the second ball of the 25th over, Dhoni drove a Rahman delivery to mid-off and
set off for a quick single but mid-way through the run, he barged into the
bowler who seemed to feel the force and had to leave the field injured. Later Dhoniwas fined 75 percent of his match fees and Rahman
50 percent of his match fees.While Dhoni has been criticised for deliberately
shoving Rahman, it must be noted that it was clearly accidental and the
incident has judged far too hardly by some.

Times of India
reporttried to give it a different
tinge stating that given Dhoni's stature in international cricket, it was a
very unsporting act, something the Indian captain has never been accused of in
his illustrious career. But, replays clearly showed that Dhoni played it soft
and with mid off fielder inside the circle, he had to take off quickly. Streaming in at a good pace, there was Rahman
in the middle who could see Dhoni charging – still ambled across without ever
trying to get out of the way.He was not
even preparing to collect the ball – but stood on the way – and there was a
possible run out – Dhoni ran straight, barged into Rahman and nearly knocked
him off his feet.After the collision,
Dhoni seemingly said sorry to the bowler, though he was unhappy with the bowler
coming his way, went to check whether Rahman was okay.Earlier in 5th over the same
bowler had blocked Rohit Sharma too.

BishanBedi once
asked the Indian team to jump into Ocean and now says that MSD is no longer
Captain Cool and yoga sessions can help him overcome the tough phase !Bedi
feels Dhoni is certainly ruffled by the recent losses.“Ye
pehlidafahaikiwohbehkibehkibaateinkarrahahai (It’s the first time he is not
making sense). And that is a clear indication that he is not ‘Captain Cool’
anymore. He looks ruffled. Having said that I still don’t blame any individual
but the team,” Bedi said in an interview.“There is no shame in defeat but there
has to be some concern in defeat. The killer instinct, which is part of a
professional sportsperson’s character, was missing from Team India. Bangladesh
were more committed in batting, bowling and fielding front.Bedi, 68, also
questioned the think-tank’s decision to drop Ajinkya Rahane in the second game.

Man to man India
were a better side on paper, but games are played on the ground. Bangladesh has
played better Cricket – India should avoid the washout – then there will always
chances to undo all the damage. Off the field, it was Bangladesh
who displayed their poor spirit …. In a shocking revelation, Indian cricket's
superfan Sudhir Gautam has claimed that the Bangladeshi fans wanted to kill him
to avenge their team's quarter-final loss against India in the ICC World Cup
2015. Gautam as all fans know, is seen at all India's matches with his body painted in
tri-colour. He is always spotted in the stands waving the Indian flag with
number 10 on his body (Tendulkar's ODI jersey number). He had even travelled to Australia and New Zealand for
World Cup 2015. Sudhir was manhandled by the Bangladeshi fans post India's
humiliating series defeat against Bangladesh after the second ODI.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Come June and 1st
week of July – we will be reading all about Wimbledon, the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and
widely considered the most prestigious.
It is held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It
is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments (Majors), the others being the
Australian Open, the French Open (Roland Garros) and the US Open – the only
major played on ‘grass’ – the original surface, giving the game the name "lawn tennis".The tournament takes
place over two weeks in late June and early July, culminating with the Ladies'
and Gentlemen's Singles Final, scheduled for the second Saturday and Sunday
respectively. Wimbledon traditions include a strict dress code for competitors,
the eating of strawberries and cream by the spectators, and Royal patronage.
The tournament is also notable for the absence of sponsor advertising around
the courts. In 2009, Wimbledon's Centre Court was fitted with aretractable roof
to lessen the loss of playing time due to rain.

Britain, as usual
will be looking forward to one man – Andy Murray who had reasons to celebrate
at Queen’s making people believe, he is
better placed to win the title again, than he was when he beat Novak Djokovic in the
final two years ago.“You just have to improve, otherwise I wouldn’t still be in
the same position,” he said after beating Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-4 in the final
of the Aegon Championships – two hours after completing a 6-3, 7-6 victory over
Viktor Troicki on the same Centre Court in their interrupted semi-final. That win over Kevin Anderson gave him the Queen’s title for
fourth time. Murray joins four other
four-time Queen’s winners in John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Lleyton Hewitt and
Andy Roddick.

He perhaps is in
great nick, he went on to win Wimbledon after winning Queens in 2013 – but in
Sports, there is no guarantee of any repeat performance. He reportedly has been preparing hard on
grass, gaining lot of confidence – but there is long way to go, as lot of
things can happen during the various rounds.
Murray paid tribute to his coach of one year, AmélieMauresmo, augmented
lately by the input of Jonas Bjorkman, for the adjustments to his game that
have allowed him to play his best tennis in two years, on grass and clay.She is
due to arrive in London shortly, having
left Bjorkman to oversee Murray’s training at Queen’s, and she is expecting her first child in
August.

Last year at
Wimbledon, GrigorDimitrov broke British hearts by ending Andy Murray's reign as
Wimbledon champion with a sublime and serene 6-1 7-6(4) 6-2 victory in the
quarter-finals. The third seed had confidently marched into
the last eight without dropping a set, but his meek abdication left the Centre
Court crowd, which included Prince William and his wife the Duchess of Cambridge,
stunned into silence.

Can you imagine the
force behind his training – it is no longer One man army of Player or that of a
Player assisted by personal Coach. Ahead
of his assault on SW19 later this month, Sportsmail brings you the eight
members of Team Murray. MailOnline reports that Murray marked his title win on
Sunday with a big thank you to the people closest to him. Joining in the big
high five were...

1 -
Josh Murray (employee at 77, Andy’s management company): The London-based
company set up in September 2013 following Murray's triumph at Wimbledon. The
name of the company was inspired by the 77-year wait for a British men's
singles triumph at the SW19 event that Murray ended that year.

2- Rob
Stewart (friend and ex-employee): Stewart manages Murray's official website and
is very much a friend of the tennis star as well as an employee. Stewart has
been credited for making Murray more accessible to the public with frequent
updates, interviews and photos on the site

4- Leon
Smith (GB Davis Cup captain): A close friend of Murray, Smith has turned around
the fortunes of the British Davis Cup since his appointment five years ago. He
coached Andy as a teenager, and while never having played professionally,
learned his coaching trade at the knee of Murray's mother Judy.

6 -
Shane Annun (Physio): Has been working with Murray's team part time since
October of last year.

7 -
Matt Little (trainer): An old friend of Murray, Little also works as the as the
Lawn Tennis Association's strength and conditioning coach.

8 -
Jonas Bjorkman (coach): Former world No 4 Jonas Bjorkman was Murray's sole
coach at Queen's with pregnent Amelie Mauresmo set to re-join the team for
Wimbledon. The Swede is a former world No 1 in doubles, winning nine grand slam
doubles titles.

Grand
team work indeed !!

In
Dec 2011, the legendary Ivan Lendl was appointed coach to Andy Murray. Lendl is credited with improving Murray's maturity and
consistency, guiding the Scot to his first two Grand Slam victories in the 2012
US Open, and 2013 Wimbledon Championships, thereby ending the 77-year-old wait
for a male British tennis player to win a Grand Slam Major. However, in Mar 2014, it was announced that
Lendl and Murray would be ending their 2 year coaching partnership.

But
is that 77 year right ?- all news sites mentioned of Andy
Murray becoming the first British champion of Wimbledon since 1936. Not right fully as in 1977, Virginia Wade on
the Ladies Championship. Frederick John
"Fred" Perry, won 10 Majors
including eight Grand Slams and two Pro Slams single titles, as well as six
Major doubles titles. Perry won three consecutive Wimbledon Championships from
1934 to 1936. Prior
to Andy Murray in 2013, Perry was the last British player to win the men's
Wimbledon championship, in 1936 but in Women, the latest is Virginia Wade in
1977.

Heard of - Papiliopolymnestor ?-
‘Thikkutheiryathakattilunnaithedialainthen’
is one of the many songs of the great Tamil Poet SubrahmanyaBharathiyar.
‘ThikkuTheriyathakattil’ (in a forest lost in directions) was also the name of
a hit movie released in 1972 starring Muthuraman and Lakshmi … a song
‘poopoovaparanthupogumpattupoochiakka’ – a child asking the butterfuly as to
who gave it such a beautiful shirt ! – was a grand hit of yesteryears.

These winged
wonders are beautiful to look at. The
monarch butterfly migrates long
distances and reportedly goes ‘winter getaway’ to the warm mountain forests of
Mexico. Today, conservationists and eco-enthusiasts are fixated more on the
plight — not the flight — of the butterflies. Studies by the World Wildlife
Fund and other conservation groups show that monarch populations in Mexico have
plummeted.

Away from the
monarch, a ‘social butterfly’ is a
popular slang term for a person who is socially dynamic, networking,
charismatic, and personally gregarious.
Social butterflies are lively characters, comfortable – fitting in every
environ, making friends easily – and keeping in touch with no geographical
features. Social media like FB, Twitter, Instagram can do wonders – and you get
to see so many photos, people and happenings everyday – when you stay in
touch...

The
blue Mormon (Papiliopolymnestor) is a large
swallowtail butterfly found in South India and Sri Lanka. Butterflies are part of the class of insects
in the order Lepidoptera. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured
wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight.
Butterflies in their adult stage can live from a week to nearly a year
depending on the species. Culturally, butterflies are a popular motif in the
visual and literary arts.

The news is - Blue Mormon, the second largest butterfly found in
India, is now the ‘State Butterlfy’ of
the State of Maharashtra. Maharashtra
has become the first state in country to have a ‘state
butterfly’. It has accorded the status to Blue Mormon. The decision was
taken Monday at a meeting of the Maharashtra State Wildlife Board.Chief
Minister DevendraFadnavis chaired the meeting that was also attended by Forest
Minister SudhirMungantiwar and Minister of State for Forest Ram Shinde.

The colourful
butterflies add to the beauty of every garden. In our story books, we often
come across the mention of butterflies. But it never got the same status as
state’s special flower or fruits get,” said a senior Minister. Maharashtra is home to 225 varieties of
butterflies and accounts for 15 per cent of the country’s estimated butterfly
population. Butterfly academicians, research scholars and nature lovers had
requested Mungantiwar to consider Blue Mormon for the status.

Easily
identifiable, the Blue Mormon boasts exquisite
velvet-like black wings with bright blue spots, and now is a State symbol. The status affords it some added importance
and might offer some more protection.
There are National animals / birds too -
interestingly, some Nations have extinct or
never-existed-in-the-first-place as
their national animals !

See this photo and guess the reason for the traffic jam.
This is an article circulated to my friends on 1st June 2007…
recirculated in 2o11 !

photo credit : Dinamalar 2007

Before
you read that, here are some of my thoughts :Chennai bustles with traffic – two wheelers, three
wheelers / auto rickshaws / fish carts, cars, buses, trucks, tankers, bullock
carts and other mechanical contraptions vie with each other for the space on road.
There is maddening traffic everywhere. Once in a while we do see
accidents and a few good Samaritans rendering help to the hapless
victims. Yet in a few minutes the crowd moves on as if nothing has
happened and continue to show scant regard for road safety or road rules.
You regularly see vehicles jumping signals and people driving rashly. It is
almost everyone doing the same irrespective of whether they are educated or
not, driving high end vehicle or not. As you hit the road everyday
in whatever means of transport, you spot thousands of two wheeler riders and
most of them do not wear helmets, though the Govt. made it mandatory long
ago. Curiously some who carry helmets, have it dangling on the rearview
mirror [closing its purpose too!]

Do
we require a Police Cop and Law for the wellbeing of Self ! Way back in 2007 [and on earlier occasions
too ….] Govt. of Tamilnadu promulgated compulsory wearing of helmets by both
drivers and pillion riders – there is also penal provision u/s 177 of MV Act
for the violation.

Helmet
is a form of protective gear to be worn on head to protect the head
injuries. From time immemorial, soldiers had used helmets made of
leather, bronze and others to protect from swords, arrows and other sharp
arms. It is in use in many sports including racing, football, ice hockey, climbing and of course – Cricket. In olden
days, batsmen were not using helmets.Many have had grievous hurts by bouncers
hurled at great speed. SandipPatil during the tour
to Australia in 1980-81 had his ear torn by a Lenny Pascoe
bouncer. Mohinder lost some teeth inCaribbean land. KrishSrikkanth
had his arm fractured by a Bishop’s vicious raiser. The BishanBedi’s team
after that famous Port of Spain victory in 1976 when they chased 406 were
brutally laid to submission by a barrage of bouncers hurtling the body at
Sabina park, Jamaica in 1976 when Roberts, Holding and Wayne Daniel pitched
everything short and more than half of the side had to be rushed to hospital
nursing injuries. MadanLal was once ridiculed for backing and termed
Madam lal. ….and Phil Hughes passed away struck on back head, though he
was hearing helmet.

The
comparison to the cricketing arena should stop here. The helmet rule has
been on and off; enforcement has always been lax. Back in 2002, the
Govt. was keen to enforce it strictly. The usual hue and cry is that
helmet is uncomfortable in hot weather, they have to be carried in person in
the fear of being stolen away, difficult to share, it sweats, hear fall and
more…… some also complain that it restrains the vision and affects hearing
whilst driving.

BUT
think of it – does any one complain of vision and hearing being affected when
they use a mobile whilst driving ? In May 2007, there was a decree
by Madras High Court on statutory requirement of helmet for riders of two
wheelers which forced to G.O. by the State Govt.Carrying a helmet could cause
inconvenience but helmet wearing it to be followed not because it is regulation
– people need to care for themselves and save their head..

Tamil
Nadu Government recently announced that
wearing of helmet by motorists will be compulsory from July 1, 2015, with
violators facing the risk of their vehicle documents being impounded.“This is
to inform the public that wearing of helmet by two-wheeler driver and rider is
compulsory from 01.07.2015, failing which, all the documents of the two-wheeler
including the driving licence of the driver shall be impounded under section
206 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988,” a Government release said.The impounded
documents would be released only on production of new ISI certified helmet with
purchase receipt, it added.

On
June 8, the Madras High Court observed that it was disheartening to note that a
number of precious lives were lost due to non-wearing of protective headgear
and made wearing of helmets compulsory.Justice N Kirubakaran passed the order
after taking note of statistics provided by the Home Secretary that 6,419
people lost their lives in Tamil Nadu in 2014 alone as they failed to wear
helmets while riding two-wheelers.

Traffic jam is nothing new…….. but
this was the scene at the arterial Mount
road on 2007 when vehicles were stranded for nearly 3 hours, brought
out by surging crowds lining up to buy helmets !!!! there
was a heavy rush in helmet retail stores
and some stores were open till midnight to accommodate the rush.

Monday, June 22, 2015

A stowaway
is a person who secretly boards a vehicle, such as an aircraft, bus, ship,
cargo truck or train, to travel without paying and without being detected. Cricketer
Kevin Pietersen ran into fresh controversy and had to apologise after joking
about a stowaway who died after falling from a flight from South Africa to
London and another who was seriously injured.The former England batsman, who
was born in South Africa, posted on Twitter: "Captain and opening bowler
in England's WC cricket team in 2019 right there."The message was
accompanied with an emoji of a face crying with laughter.

Smuggling
is the illegal transportation of objects (and sometimes people too !) across
varied places especially borders of a State (Country). There are
variousmotives, almost all illegal and banned in civil society. Stowaway is
different – thisrefers to a person who secretly boards a vehicle, such as an
aircraft, bus, ship, cargotruck or train, to travel without paying and without
being detected. According toIMO, the Convention on Facilitation of
International Maritime Traffic, 1965, asamended, define stowaway as "A
person who is secreted on a ship, or in cargowhich is subsequently loaded on
the ship, without the consent of the shipowner orthe Master or any other responsible
person and who is detected on board the shipafter it has departed from a port,
or in the cargo while unloading it in the port ofarrival, and is reported as a
stowaway by the master to the appropriate authorities".

How
long and where they would hide gets redefined from time to time perhaps as this
news of stowaway falling to death from jet nearer Heathrow after 11 hour long
journey from South Africa – and yet another one survived !! MailOnline and other news agencies report
that a suspected stowaway was found dead
on the roof of a London office block after plunging from a jumbo jet as it
approached Heathrow Airport.The man's body was discovered on top of the offices
of NotOnTheHighStreet.com, which is on a busy road in the south-west of the
capital, yesterday morning. Amazingly,
another stowaway survived the 8,000-mile flight from South Africa before being
taken to hospital, where he is now fighting for his life.

It is believed the two men
sneaked on to flight BA0054 before it set off from Johannesburg airport on
Wednesday evening.The man who died is then thought to have hidden in the wheel
recess during the airliner's 11-hour five-minute overnight flight to London.It
is understood he fell out as the undercarriage came down on the plane's
approach to Heathrow. It is not known whether he died during the flight or from
the fall.The other man - believed to be 24 - survived and was rushed to
hospital when the plane landed. He is said to be in a 'critical' condition.

An expert in Aviation
suggested that the man who survived may have got into the plane's baggage or
freight holds. He said he could not imagine anybody surviving 11 hours at
35,000 feet and at less than -50C. According to him, 'If someone is to survive as
a stowaway then they have to get into an area of the plane that is pressurised
and heated.' He further pointed out that
the discovery of the stowaways also raises questions for airport security.

A study made in 2012 found
at least 76 per cent of so-called 'wheel-well stowaways' die during their
attempt.Those that do survive tend to be on short-haul flights which stay at
relatively low altitudes.In one of the longest-distance known survivals, a
stowaway got though a 4,000-mile journey from Hawaii to Los Angeles in 2000,
but suffered severe hypothermia.Experts say that if stowaways avoid being
crushed when wheels are released, they fall unconscious at around 22,000ft as
the oxygen level drops.They will remain unconscious when the doors of the
wheels reopen at around 3,000ft during the plane's descent in to land, meaning
they are unable to stop themselves falling.

Many of those who die
attempting wheel-well stowaways freeze to death during the flight before
dropping to the ground.The plane would have been at an altitude of around
1,400ft when it passed over Richmond, flight data reveals.Police say they are
treating claims the man was a stowaway on the flight from Johannesburg as 'one
line of inquiry'. In September 2012, Mozambique immigrant Jose Matada, fell to
the ground in a suburban street in Mortlake, not far from Richmond, in an
apparently similar incident.Mr Matada died on his 26th birthday, with a single
pound coin in his pocket, as well as currency from Botswana and Angola.It is
believed he would have fallen unconscious due to low oxygen levels and
temperatures of -60C in the wheel recess of the BA76 Boeing 777 from Luanda,
the Angolan capital.Despite wearing only light clothes, a pathologist found he
had survived most of the journey, but died before he fell to the ground.